Jonathan Ross, the writer of Turf and British TV celebrity, appeared on the Image All-Stars panel alongside fellow contributors Eric Stephenson, Nick Spencer and Bryan Hitch.
When asked what he thought of the industry right now, he shared, “I love the Marvel and DC stuff at the moment, but my first choice is to read the indie books. The Avengers helped everyone, as long as you can bear the noobs coming in. It’s a great time to be reading comic books.”
Elaborating further about his relationship with Marvel and DC, he revealed he once pitched an idea to Joe Quesada…but didn’t hear anything back. Despite this, when asked whether he’d still like to work for them he said, “Not if it meant I couldn’t do my stuff for Image. I would love to do something for them because I love those characters. Marvel operates on a very different scale though; Image works on a very human level.”
Ross has no plans to abandon his other projects just yet though, saying he’s working on a Channel 4 show as well as a new film show pilot. He apologised for not having more comic book stars on his chat shows, but said he felt it wasn’t really the right place. He did, however, reveal that his future projects may be more appropriate for them, saying, “I might be doing something new on the radio soon and I might be doing a comic podcast as I do have a good number of contacts and I have a very pointless knowledge of comic history.”
The rest of the panel shared their extensive expertise with budding artists and authors, advising them how to make it in the industry. Artist Bryan Hitch reassured many attendees that the hardest thing to draw was often quiet scenes, as the action scenes practically leap off the page. He said it was important to make sure that the eye moved about the page smoothly, while Ross asserted that any budding writers should be kind to themselves. He shared his wife’s advice that the hardest thing to do is bash out a first draft, but said it makes everything so much easier to edit.
Ross then provided an alternative way in for anyone struggling with their writing, saying “My advice for anyone trying to get into comics is to marry someone who can write better than you can.”
All the panel members revealed they were fans of the Game of Thrones TV series, with Bryan Hitch in particular saying it boded well for the future of comic adaptations. He said, “budgets are finally catching up; they definitely couldn’t have made Game of Thrones 10 years ago.”
So, what’s next for Image? While there were no big reveals, Ross did say that he kept writing down ideas that he later looked back at slightly bemusedly. He shared his desire to force Hitch to help him make a comic focusing on Russian soldiers vs yetis before, undeterred by Hitch’s lack of enthusiasm, pulling out his phone and reading, “evil saw-like idea; pranks get out of hand, and escalate.”
Keep your fingers crossed.
Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/21/jonathan-ross-i-pitched-joe-quesada-and-heard-nothing
